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Hi! I am new to HOD. Actually, we won't start until next fall. I am very excited and have already ordered Bigger, having intended to use that with a 7 yo and a 10 yo boy. I wanted a one year American History program that included character development instruction. I had already determined I wanted to study Proverbs with them and so Bigger looked great! My oldest son had American history in second grade. In third and fourth, he covered World History from Creation to Modern Times. My intention has to have him start a four year cycle of World/American History, but then I decided I really wanted him to have one year of American History before doing that. According to the placement chart, my seven year old should do fine with Bigger, so I was excited that I could combine them into a program and we could study some things together. However, I've been looking through everyone's posts and looking at blog entries and now I'm a little nervous! I now realize how strong HOD is in developing skills in all areas and I'm wondering if my seven year old should not do Beyond instead! And, if that is the case, there would be no reason to do Bigger with my ten year old. He would actually probably fit into Preparing better. The problem with that is that he is just now finishing two years of CHOW. But, he absolutely loved CHOW and when I see what Carrie has done with the whole program it seems like he could just use it again and cover everything in a fresh (and much more creative & fun) way. I know he would love to go through CHOW again and he would enjoy all the other books, too. I'm thinking, if we went that route instead, there would be some benefits that I had not considred.

I should get my box soon, so maybe I'll be able to make a better choice then. I see that alot of HOD moms are teaching two programs and I guess I didn't even think about that being possible. We have been using Sonlight and there is no way I would consider doing two Sonlight cores at once. I came to HOD with my "SL eyes" on! I will be praying about this. I really want HOD to work for us and to be a blessing to my children. I coveat your prayers, also!

Blessings!

I will be using Bigger with 7 and 9 year old boys if you need some company (smile).

I'll be praying for you to have clarity too! I was a previous Sonlight user and understand the mentality that it is very difficult to do 2 cores. I agree that HOD is quite different from Sonlight in that respect.

I do think that if your kiddos placed well into Bigger on the placement chart then you will be fine doing Bigger Hearts, especially if you were desiring to do a year of American history with both of them. Your kiddos also place well into the target age ranges of the Bigger guide with extensions, and the skills in Bigger would be good for your kiddos to have as they go into the upper HOD years.

If your son has just read CHOW, I'm not sure about him going through it again right in a row. I agree that CHOW is a book that can be read again (especially along with Grandpa's Box), but I don't know if you'd want to do it right after finishing it the first time. I think a good dose of American history is a great change, after world history, and with the ages of your kiddos you are right there with being able to do it with Bigger.

I would probably encourage you to stay with your original plan, if you think the materials fit your kiddos well (once you get a chance to go through them first-hand).

Let us know what you're thinking if you get a chance later.

Blessings,
Carrie

Carrie, thank you so much for responding to my post.

I received our box today!!! It's just perfect. It's just exactly what I had hoped it would be. We are going to be fine with Bigger's. I'm going now to hide the books so my boys won't devour them right away! We are going to have so much fun. The dictation lists alone have saved me a ton of work. And, the history books are just lovely. I didn't realize they would be small like that! I love them, just the feel of them in my hands feels "right."

I'm already recruiting others. I think my sister is going to order HOD for next year, too! Her sweeties love the Thornton Burgess books that you use in one of the earlier programs.

Blessings,
Donna T.
http://www.fishfellacademy.blogspot.com

Donna,

I'm so glad that you got your box and have been able to look through it. It makes a huge difference to actually have it in hand as you can tell much better whether it will be a good fit or not. I'm excited that you'll get a chance to do Bigger Hearts. We pray you'll enjoy it as much as we did, when we did it last year!

Blessings,
Carrie